The steam machine fits my TV, my desk, and my life

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been in a very fortunate position: I’ve been spending a lot of time playing games on Valve’s Steam Machine.

We gave the steam machine a 6I don’t disagree with my colleague Sean Hollister’s review. But even though I already own a PS5 and an Xbox Series

The PS5 and Xbox Series (These controllers are also quite bulky compared to Valve’s small box.) Compared to the Steam Deck, games look better, play smoother, and I don’t hear a fan blowing all the way from my couch.

Since getting the Steam Deck a few years ago, I’ve transferred most of my games to Valve’s handheld, where I mostly play connected to my TV. So I thought hardware made by Valve specifically for playing games on my TV would be fine for me, but I was a little worried after I read Sean’s review. The disadvantages of the Steam Machine are many: it’s really expensive, it competes with six-year-old console hardware, and you can’t upgrade its GPU to make games look better in the future.

However, I’m obsessed with how easily Valve’s little 6-inch cube fits into my TV console, my desk, and my life.

The Steam Machine Is Essentially Silent: I can’t think of a single time I’ve heard a Steam Machine while playing games. Not with Final Fantasy VII Remake IntergradeNot with 007 first lightespecially not with Balatro. It, of course, works great with Valve’s Steam controller, which I already use Sing the praises in my review. I can put it basically anywhere I want in my TV cabinet, unlike my PS5 and Xbox Series I’ve also put it on my desk a few times and connected it to a monitor, and I love that I don’t have to completely rearrange my small desk to get this work done.

The Steam machine has quickly become my go-to way to play games on my TV. It turns on quickly with the push of a button, works well with the Sonos Beam speaker, and lets me jump right into the game within seconds. So do the Steam Deck, PS5, and Xbox Series But I didn’t miss any during the two weeks I spent with the Steam Machine.

What I missed was actually making a reservation to purchase the Steam Machine. I registered, but I was not selected. I’d be sad to pack up the Steam Machine and return it to Sean for further testing, especially when there’s no timeline for when I might be able to get out of Valve’s queue.

Instead of waiting for Valve, I finally started building my own PC. I’m pretty lucky with this too: after I told a friend I was thinking about building a PC, they offered to give me an RTX 3070 Ti GPU and a 1TB SSD. This means that I can theoretically make a more powerful, more upgradeable Steam Machine without having to pay for two of the most expensive parts.

But even though I can now afford to build a computer, I still wish I could get a Steam Machine. I had a lot of fun looking at the status options like Fractal Ridge and Debts 7but it will be a perfect fit for your TV console. I think nothing I assemble will be as quiet as a steam machine. SteamOS operating system unavailable On Nvidia GPUs yet, so I’ll probably have to rely on Steam Big Picture mode on Windows or use a Linux OS like Bazzite. The SteamOS experience won’t be nearly as smooth as you’re used to.

I probably won’t buy anything at all. Just to be honest with you, I spent the weekend going back to the Steam Deck on my TV, paired with 8BitDo’s Ultimate 2 Wireless Controller, and it worked better than I remembered. Yes, I was playing a relatively lightweight game (can’t say which, due to review embargo). But the game played great on TV and I can easily pick up my Steam Deck from under the TV and bring it around the house.

It was 90 percent of the Steam Machine experience plus portability — and most of the games I play run fine on the Steam Deck already, so I’m not sure I really need the extra headroom for a full desktop in front of my couch.

I haven’t decided what I’m going to do yet: build my own PC, eventually get a Steam machine when my place in the queue comes up, or continue with the setup I’ve got. My heart wants a steam machine, though. If I could buy it today instead of waiting indefinitely, I would pay the asking price.